The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-28
SOME SNAKE STORIES.
a Monster Serpent Killed After a
Long Fight.

Long Fight.
The New York Times has the following
dispatch from Allentown, Pa: A snake that
measured 1872 feet in length, and of proper
tonate circumference, and which has been
pronounced king snake by local natural
lists, was killed by Elias Moser, a well known
resident OF Lynn township, this county, a
lew days ago, in the woods near his
farm house. When Moser first saw the
reptile only its head was visible between
the rails of a fence He supposed it was
Large specimen of the ordinary black
snake, and, picking up stone threw it at
the protruding head. The stone missed It's
mark, and the snake, instead of making off,
began to make itself more prominent, and
rapidly unfolding itself to the eyes of the
astounded farmer. After a snake bigger
than he had ever seen had come through
the fence and the end of it was not yet Far
mer Moser turned and ran
The snake followed him. and so closely
that the farmer mounted a high stone wall
and jumped down behind it. The snake
gllded up the wall also, and without delay
came down on the other side Moser saw
there was nothing for it but to fight, and he
grabbed stone from the wall and hurled
It at the serpent as it approached him.
fortunately the stone hit the snake near
the head, which the reptile carried
high above the ground, and knocked it
down. Before the serpent recovered Moser
seized another stone and tossed it square on
It's head, fastening it to the ground. The
weight of the stone prevented the serpent
from releasing itself, and Moser took adj
vantage of the situation to hurl other heavy
stones on the one that held the snake fast
until the gradual ceasing of the twirling
and coiling of the great body indicated that
the reptile was overcome
Moser did not venture to remove the
stones, however, until he went home and got
his hired man and a gun. When he
returned thus reinforced the stones were
taken off, The snake was dead. The head
was long and fiat. The upper part of the
body was of a blush black except two broad
white bands araund the neck. The belly
was yellowish white. The great size of the
snake is something unheard of for Serpents
known to abound in this latitude
On the same day Charles K. Henry and
Daniel Schroeder, of the same township,
killed two blacksnakes on an adjoining
farm which measured nearly 8 feet each
Lehigh county is not the only one in this
part of Pennsylvania where the serpent
family is productive of excitement to the
farmers. On Saturday jeremiah Brady, a
farm hand in the employ of j. S. Strick-
land, in the vicinity of Senator Don Cam
eron's Donegal farm, in Dauphin county,
was narrowing in a field, when an immense
blacksnake came out of a hollow stump and
attacked one of the mules which Brady was
driving. Brady struck at it with his whip,
when the snake turned and made for him
Brady ran to stone pile in the field, fol-
lowed by the snake The stones which
Brady threw did not hit the serpent, and as
it came nearer and nearer he mechanically
made a stroke at it with his whip, which he
still retained The lash curled around the
snakes neck and fastened itself there. This
seemed to take the reptile by surprise, and
it turned to get away. Brady held on to
the whip, and bringing stones again to his
aid soon dispatched the snake. 1t was a
very large one of the racer species. Before
he finished work for the day Brady killed
ten other snakes, two of them copperheads.
The rest were large blacksnakes.
In Lycoming county there is a creek
called Rattlesnake creek. From reports re-
ceived from there during the past few days
it richly deserves its name. Squire Clark
and John Liggett, who were surveying
some woods lots along the creek on Friday
killed thirteen large yellow rattle
snakes. Liggett stepped on two of
them before he saw them. One turned
to strike him in the foot, but not
being cooled its aim was not true, and it
sank its fangs in its own body. William
Reinhold and Frank joy, of Philadelphia,
went to the head waters of the creek to
camp for few days trout-fshing last
week. They came back to Lock Haven the
next day with six rattlesnakes which they
had succeeded in killing, and said as many
more which they saw had got away.